


and what have we done?

by sapoeysap



Series: December Drabbles [30]
Category: Rent - Larson
Genre: Drabble Collection, Friends to Lovers, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 10:19:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9119305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapoeysap/pseuds/sapoeysap
Summary: Roger always gets a little to drunk around New Year's, always ends up proposing to a normally clueless Mark





	

**Author's Note:**

> Nearly the end of my Drabble Challenge, I have a tradition that I watch the first act of Rent on Christmas eve and the second act on New Year's eve, this spawned from that.

**Day 30 - Ring/Proposing**

Mark spends New Year’s Eve very ill, curled up in bed.

Roger spends New Year’s Eve very drunk, partying in the loft.

It’s their first New Year in New York, in a loft falling apart, with a group of friends who help keep the loft together.

So, while Roger, Maureen, Collins and Benny dance through a countdown, Mark lies bundled up in blankets, trying to sleep away a headache.

It’s later than late, maybe 3 in the morning when the noise dies down and Roger stumbles into Mark’s tiny closet-cum-bedroom, collapsing onto the bed, ring pop in hand. It’s the first-time Roger proposes on New Years’, soft kiss pressed to a sleeping Mark’s lips, before snuggling in behind the filmmaker. Mark never questioned why he woke up in Roger’s arms, presuming it’s some scheming on Maureen’s part.

That’s the year Roger meets April in some dingy bar after a concert, that’s the year Roger finds heroin, the year Mark’s life goes to shit.

Mark excuses himself from the New Year’s party, Maureen does her whole ‘pookie’ routine, but he retreats to the bedroom anyway, can’t stand to see April in Roger’s arms.

He never questions the hot breath he felt on his ear, that roused him from his slumber, or the ring pop that adorns a finger in the light of the morning.

That year brings pain, falling apart in the cold of January, April leaves a note, Roger screams. Collins disappears on the promise of some job, Benny’s gone and fallen in love with some rich stuffy girl and now he’s part of the elite. Maureen breaks up with Mark, leaves for some girl. Mark just watches it all fall apart, filming the bohemian’s destruction. The end of the year brings a hope in the form of a young faced girl with old eyes and Collins return with a girl in a wig with a rhythm. Maureen trundles back in with a cat-suit and the respectable Joanne, who fits right in. Mark actually sticks around for this New Years, it’s nice to have noise in the loft that isn’t Roger and the same four chords wailing through, the realisation that the songwriter has less and less time, Mimi’s arms look like a lighter burden than April’s ever where.

Lounging on the door to his room, is Roger, all smudged eyeliner, plaid and tattoos, ring pop in one hand, near empty bottle of whiskey in the other, alcohol heavy on his breath as he leans in. Mark remembers the proposal that year, the whispered “marry me one day Mark”, but what he remembers more distinctively is the ghost of a shiver up his spine as Roger turns on his heel and struts away.

That year passes miserably but with such a sense of unity, Mark starts to participates more. It all falls apart when Angel dies, but her spirit keeps them moving, he tells her story on his film. No day but today becomes a prayer that will take them through the days and nights. He leaves the reel in the projector and goes to bed, Roger drops it off in his room, with a ring pop and a note “marry me one day”.

Mimi fades away in April. Roger is okay though, they lived what they needed too. The rest of them make it through another year, Collins has a moment that has them all worried, but fights back, no thanks to the rewired ATM. Joanne and Maureen finally make it through an engagement party and have a wedding set for the fall next year.

Roger gets his songs back, and a band together, learns more than what he knew before.

But he’s still there New Year’s Eve, as Mark walks into the loft, eyes on nothing but the man on one knee with a ring pop, oblivious to the celebrating people around him. There’s no alcohol smell lingering on Roger’s breath as he leans in to steal a kiss from Mark. This is the year he finally understands the weight of everything, this is the moment he finally shrugs off the consequences in one simple three letter word.

**Author's Note:**

> Cliche as it might be the title is from   
> John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Happy Xmas (War is Over) 
> 
> "And so this is Christmas, and what have we done, another year over, and a new one just begun"


End file.
